Roofing-tongs



(.No Modem' 5 Sheets-Sheet 2. P. LISTED/IAN.

ROOFING TONGS.

No. 438,012. Patented Oct. '7, 1890.

M/zwoes s @Q7 (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 4. P. LISTEMAN. ROOFING TONGS Patented 001;.7, 1890.

.nw .Tn 6 e h s S .fu e 9 h S 5 AN MO Bm... G MN I IP... L0 .0, PR d. d o M 0 /N\ Patented Oct. 7, 1890.

-YUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PHILIP LISTEMAN, OF COLLINSVILLE, ILLINOIS.

ROOFlNG-TO'NGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 438,012, dated October '7, 1890.

Application filed September 23,1889. Serial 110.324.1859. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern,.-

Beit known that I, PHILIP LIs'lEMAN, of Collinsville, Madison county, Illinois, have made a new and useful Improvement in Roofing-Tongs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The improvement relates to the means whereby the tongs can be applied more securely to the seam, to the means whereby the seam may be more perfectly formed immediately in the vicinity of cross-seams in the metal, and to the means by which the final bending of the metal can be more advantageously formed, and so as not to displace the tongs in so doing, all substantially as is hereinafter setforth and claimed, aided by the annexed drawings, makingpart of this specification, in Which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of the improved tongs; Fig. 2, a rear elevation thereof; Fig. 3, a plan thereof; Fig. 4, a bottom vieW thereof; Fig. 5, an end elevation thereof, looking in the direction of the arrow 5, Fig. 1; Fig. 6, an end elevation thereof, looking at the opposite end to that shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 7, a vertical section on the line 7 7, Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 8, a vertical section on the line 8 8, Figs. 1 and 2, but looking in the opposite di rection to that of Fig. 7 Fig. 9, a front elevation of the bending-bar; Fig. 10, a bottom view of the stationary jaw; Fig. 11, a front elevation of the stationary jaw; Figs. 12 to 20, views introduced to illustrate the operation of the machine.

The views are not all upon the same scale.

The same letters of reference denote the same parts.

Saving as the tongs Aare supplemented or modified by the improvement under consideration, they are of the customary form, and they maybe of any ordinary form which admits of the embodiment therein of the iinprovement. f

B represents the stationary jaw, G the movable jaw, and D the bending-bar.

As hitherto made, the front face b of the stationary jaw is flat, in consequence of which the tongs are liable to slip upward upon the flanges e e of the seam E as the jaws are closed thereupon. I overcome this difficulty by providing said face o with a flange, rib, or projection b', Figs. 5, 11, 12, and 13, and when the movable jaw is closed to grip the flanges e ea slight bend is, by reason of the projection b', caused in them, and the tongs thereby prevented from slipping. The projection b', in practice, extends along that part of the jaw B used in forming the initial bending of the metal.

The second feature of t-he improvement is analogous to that above described. At the opposite end of the tongs-namely, the end shown in Figs. 6 and 18-the jaw-face Z9 is notched at b2, and the movable jaw C is provided With a prong c, which, when the jaws are closed, enters the notch b2 and causes the interposed metal of the seam to thereby be slightly indented at that point, and in consequence of such indentation the tongs at that end-thereof can obtain a reliable grip upon the seam.

The third feature of the improvement is understood by referring to Figs. 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, and 20. Extending along that part of the jaw-face h of the stationary jaw used in effecting the iinal bending of the seam is a groove or recess ha. This recess is at the proper height and of sufficientdepth and size to admit the thickness of the folded metal occurring immediately at a cross-seam e2, Figs. 16 and 17, in the metal to be seamed. I-Iitherto at such a point in the seam, and owing to the jaw-face b being substantially fiat, the extra thickness of the metal at a cross-seam prevented the movable j aw from properly closing the seam immediately at the sides, respectively, of the cross-seam, and to complete the Work the operator had to go over the seam and close it by other means 'than the tongs. This difficulty is obviated as described. The extra thickness of the metal is, as the movable jaw closes, received into the recess b3, and the seam in the immediate vicinity of the cross-seam, as Well as at other points, is thoroughly closed and the face e3 of the seam, Figs. 15, and 17, made substantially at.

The remaining feature of the improvement is the provision whereby, in effecting the final bending, the bending-bar can be manipulated so as not only to turn the metal over to advantage, but also so as not to cause that end of the tongs to be drawn upward on the seam, and thus displace the tongs and prevent the seam from being properly formed.

IOO

Referring to Figs. 8, 19, and 20, it will be seen that the upper corner b4 of the stationary jaw is not at the center, or in line with the een ter, upon which the bending-bari) rotates, but a certain distance in front of such center. The

bending-bar is also shaped out at d, so that Y prior to the turning down of the bending-bar a Space d intervenes between the corner b4 and that outer portion d f the bending-bar which cornes in contact with the metal to be bent. Heretofore when the corner b4 was made to substantially coincide with the center on which the bending-bar rotated the metal was by the action of the bending-bar turned sharply over the corner b4, and in consequence of this arrangement the tongs had atendency to rise upon the seam. The action of the bending-bar operated to pry the tongs upward, so that the bottom of the'tongs no longer laid viilat upon the main part of the metal. This difficulty is'overcome by the means described. The portion d ofthe bending-barencounters the flange first toward the youteredge thereof `and operates to roll the Iiange from the corner b4, and it .does not bear upon'the entire flange unt-i1 the `bending is about completed, and at that point of the bending the bending-bar is not pressing downward but rather sidewise against the seam, and thus there is no force acting to materially pry the tongs upward on the seam.

I claim- In roofing-tongs, the combination of the bending-bar having the recess d and flat operating-face d', the movabiejaw C, having the projection c, and the stationary jaw B, having the projection b', the notch b2, to receive and co-operate with the point of the projection c of the movable jaw, the recess b5, to cooperate with the operating face d of the bending-bar, and the projection or corner b4, v

a suitable distance in front ofthe axis of rotation of the bending-bar, al1 constructed and arranged substantially as `and for the purposes specified.

Witnessmyhand thi-sith dayoff September, 1889.

PHILIP LISTEMA'N. u

Witnesses:

C. D. MOODY, I. W. C. SANFORD. 

